About the OFT
Handling negotiations
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Under the Estate Agents Act 1979, you must make sure that everyone is treated equally, fairly and promptly when:
- informing clients about offers
- informing clients about your services to buyers
You must not:
- make misleading statements
- falsely describe a property
- show bias against potential buyers
Informing clients about offersÂ
You must give your clients written details of all offers received from potential buyers. This information must be passed on promptly. It can be sent by hand, post or fax.
You should keep a written record of all offers that you receive.
If your client tells you in writing that it isn't necessary to pass on certain offers, you don't have to write in those circumstances. For example, this could happen if the client doesn't want you to write with offers below a specific price level.
Informing clients about services to buyers
You must write promptly to your client when you or a connected person are asked to provide services to a buyer.
You will have to be specific about the service you will offer a buyer. For example, you might arrange:
- a mortgage
- insurance
- the sale of the buyer's property
- a removal service.
If you or a connected person will get some benefit from services offered by any other person, then you must tell your client about the services. For example, if you get a commission from someone you recommend to the buyer, you'll need to write to your client about it. You don't have to tell your client how much you will be paid.
Making misleading statements
It is illegal to mislead buyers or sellers in any way. Specifically, you must not give misleading information about:
- offers for a particular property, or invent bids
- the existence or status of any potential buyer.
A statement that is factually true might be presented in a misleading way. You must take care to avoid this.
Examples of misleading statements:
- You cannot claim to have first time or cash buyers, unless you can show why you think this is true.
- You cannot advertise or claim that you have potential buyers, unless you can prove that this is true.
Falsely describing a property
You must not make a false or misleading statement about a property. This is an offence under the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991. The law applies whether the statement is made:
- orally
- in writing
- in pictures
- or by any other method that produces a misleading or false impression.
Avoiding bias
You must not discriminate against potential buyers because they don't want, or might refuse, to take services from you or a connected person.
For example, you must not:
- refuse to provide information about a property to these buyers
- take longer to send property information to these buyers, compared to others
- set additional requirements, as a condition of passing on an offer, eg, forcing them to have a mortgage survey before you will pass on their offer to your client.
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